State public health official says this might be record-year for EEE positives mosquitoes

Wednesday

Aug 29, 2012 at 12:20 AMAug 29, 2012 at 8:31 AM

Two more New Bedford mosquito samples have tested positive for West Nile virus, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, the state public health veterinarian said Massachusetts might be seeing a record number of mosquitoes testing positive for eastern equine encephalitis.

ANIKA CLARK

NEW BEDFORD — Two more New Bedford mosquito samples have tested positive for West Nile virus, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, the state public health veterinarian said Massachusetts might be seeing a record number of mosquitoes testing positive for eastern equine encephalitis.

As of Monday, the state had tested 5,559 mosquito samples in 2012, of which 196 had tested positive for West Nile and 218 for EEE, according to DPH's Dr. Catherine Brown.

"I cannot confirm that is the most number of EEE samples positive ever but it seems likely," Brown said by email to The Standard-Times.

Online state public health department records that chart EEE surveillance since 2004 show that more EEE-infected samples have already been collected this year than in any of the past eight years. During this time, the lowest was in 2008, when the state reported 13 EEE-positive mosquito samples of 4,575 tested.

The highest, except for 2012, was the 157 EEE-infected samples DPH reported in 2006. During that season, the state tested a total of 9,344 samples and confirmed EEE cases in five people, six horses, one llama and a seal. So far this year, the DPH has announced EEE in a Middlesex County man officials say might have caught the virus out of state, a horse and an alpaca.

Brown cited some changes in surveillance that she said would tend to increase the number of positive samples.

"Having said that, it is also very clear that there has been a substantial amount of EEE activity this year so the 218 is not all due to surveillance effect," she said.

To date, the state has reported EEE-infected mosquito samples from eight counties and from the SouthCoast communities of New Bedford, Fall River, Lakeville, Middleboro and Westport. DPH has reported samples infected with West Nile from nine counties and locally in Dartmouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Lakeville, Middleboro and Rochester.